How Old Would CUNIA be NOW?

[jbh]

Was wondering if anyone could remember when Cunia was born.....had to be in the early 70's I think....  I was editing video of two Cunia x Angus bred heifers and an older Cunia cow for the videos at www.youtube.com/holtkampcattleco and it seemed kinda FREAKY to see young cattle out of a 35-40 year old bull!

 

[shortyjock89]

I believe he was born in 69, making him 40 this year.

 

[TAS]

He was born in 1969, his Maine Anjou registrtion number is 11.

 

[FutureBreeder2013]

Its really weird to think about how many years Cuina has been gone and is still producing a few calves.

 

[chambero]

We had a direct son of Cunia out of Foreplays dam and the females from are some of our best cows.  Cunia blood still works!

 

[spb]

I have two cunia X juaer doctor Angus heifer ET calves  right now

 

[DL]

June 10, 1969 - he's coming 41

 

[justintime]

I can remember Cunia as if I had just seen him last week. He probably was decades ahead of his time. I saw him many times, as he was maintained in a stud not far from where I live. The opinion of the day was " he is a nice bull, but just not big enough". I would think if Cunia was alive today, he would be one of the hottest bulls in the industry right now. He was very moderate framed, but thick topped, well muscled and ultra clean in his lower third and front. He was a flat out great bull, for what we all are trying to produce today.  I wish I had every Cunia daughter I ever raised, but no one wanted to buy them in that era because they were two frame sizes smaller than the Covino, Dollar 11, Capone, Etula, Bysantin, Berlin, and several other Maine bulls of the day. The Cunia daughters I remember raising would be classic females today. They were moderate, thick and super smooth made and they were feminine and nice uddered. They were probably the most fertile of all the Maine sired females we raised back then. Cunia is one bull that I will always remember as he taught me to look at the long term benefits are more than short term fads.

 

[knabe]

here's some indirect comments on cunia from dr. harlan ritchie.

we talked briefly and then drove to the herd of mr. robert bouvet at bouchard (farm name), laigne (village name) in Mayenne department.  he is the breeder of the imported bull, Cunia, sired by Atan, the latter is reported to be the best bull in the breed in france.

"we saw  the dam of Cunia, a large-framed 11 yr old cow that weighs about 1800 lbs. and is 56 inches tall.  she produces about 7500 lb. of milk per lactation.  she is a good correct cow with a tight udder.  however, we saw two or three cows in the herd that we liked better.  we were shown a group of 4 to 8 month old calve sired by atan (the sire of cunia).  they were very large and growth. particularly when one considers that they were being fed only grass and hay.  There was an atan november bull calf still receiving milk in another field that we liked very much.  he had the potential for a top herd bull.  His dam is one of the poorest milking cows in the herd but extremely large--probably 2000 lbs.  she only produces 5500 lb per lactation, but of course this is more than needed to raise a calf and is about average for the breed.  we also saw a pasture of 15 heifers ranging in age from 18 to 30 months, all but 2 were sired by Atan.  They were big and impressive.  Atan himself was reported to have weighed 3150 lbs and stood 64 inches tall as a 3-year old. he is now on a farm 100 miles north of the main breeding area so we were unable to see him."

if atan was a top bull in france, they should know if he carried monkey mouth rather than the dam of cunia, especially if he was heavily used and all the calves would be observed closely as most herds were 20-40 cows.

 

[Telos]

JIT said it just right. Not very many were impressed with those first Cunia half bloods. He just did not add the frame that was in demand for the day. Most of them actually looked like they would not grow but they got a shot of growth at about 11 months of age and were a little deceiving because most were born fairly thick.

I really was impressed with him on dairy type cows. He had the ability to thicken one up in a single generation better then any bull I had ever seen. In fact, I bought several as show steers.  Should have bought the heifers, looking back.

 

[Nasc]

Thanks gang for some more history on this legendary bull.

 

[Clark Club Calves]

If you like history on old bulls go to Walt Browarny Legacy web site they have old photos and videos of bull from the late 60's  and early 70's here is the link  http://www.browarny.com/legacy/

 

[justintime]

Cunia sired steers were quite unique in that once they were ready to be shown, many of them could be held for months without them changing much. I remember one steer we had that we showed at a local show in  early July and we held him over to show at the Royal Winter Fair in November. He won his class at both shows and only weighed 30 lbs more in November than he did in July. I sold him for $3.80 / lb, at the Royal which I thought was an outrageous price to receive at the time, and the buyer kept him over winter and showed him in a carcass competition in late March where he won Champion carcass steer. His carcass sold for $15/ lb, which made the price I had received look pretty small.  I had several Cunia sired steers that we were able to hold for extended periods without them getting stale and too big. I cannot think of any other sires that I have had anything to do with that had the same trait.